Elevator installations for transporting persons/goods are relatively long-term capital cost items with service lives of 20 years and more. If after a lengthy period of time, a general overhaul of an elevator installation is contemplated, then the components of the elevator installation are often technologically old, which requires the exchange to a greater or lesser extent of the elevator components. This is generally referred to as modernization.
Using known methods of modernization of an elevator installation, the transport capacity of the elevator installation during the modernization is, in the best scenario, maintained. However, the transport capacity is often reduced during modernization. If in an elevator installation with, for example, three elevators an elevator is exchanged then this means a temporary reduction in the transport capacity by 33%. However, during the modernization the users do not want to suffer any losses in convenience and are still to be transported as quickly and directly as possible. Long waiting times and/or inconvenient transfers are perceived to be undesirable.
EP1935824A1, which is incorporated herein by reference, discloses a method of modernizing an elevator installation in which existing floor terminals for call input of floor calls and existing car terminals for call input of car calls are replaced by destination call terminals for input of destination calls. The destination call terminals communicate the destination calls to a call detection unit for evaluation of the destination calls. The call detection unit is connected with an existing group control and now communicates, in place of the floor calls and the car calls, destination calls to the group control. The group control selects, for serving the destination call, an elevator car of the elevator installation and initially moves the elevator car to the input floor of the destination call and from there to the destination floor of the destination call.